How Podcasting Works

With podcasting, you can turn your desire to get behind a microphone into reality quickly, easily, and inexpensively. But the benefits of podcasting aren't confined to podcasters. In fact, podcasting offers some real advantages for your listeners, too.

A simple definition of podcasting is "a combination of technologies that allows users to create radio-like content with their computers and allows listeners to automatically receive that content over the Internet, then play it on their computers or portable music players."

Let's begin our look at podcasting with an overview of the entire podcasting process. Following the components of our definition, we'll take a look at the basic steps involved in creating a podcast. (Of course, we'll be reviewing the entire process in much greater detail throughout the rest of the book.) Then, we'll examine the elements of your listener's experience, comparing and contrasting it with the experience of listening to traditional radio. Finally, we'll explore the single most important element that differentiates podcasts from traditional radio broadcasts.

The Basic Steps for Creating a Podcast

Podcasters use a wide range of different tools and techniques to put their shows together. Still, there are certain basic steps involved in creating a podcast that are common among all podcasters.

Plan Your Podcast

Of all the steps involved in creating a quality podcast, this is one of the most important. (It's so important, in fact, that Chapter 4 of this book, "Strategies For Planning Each Show," is devoted exclusively to strategies and tactics for effectively planning your podcast.) Incredibly, however, this crucial step receives very little attention in most discussions of podcasting. As a result, many prospective podcasters falter in their efforts because they neglect to spend sufficient time on "show prep." The most successful podcasters make their shows seem effortless, but don't be fooled. An engaging podcast is invariably the product of careful planning and preparation.

Record Your Podcast

Of course, this is the part of the process that's the most fun! This is where you preserve your contentinterviews, music, observations, instructionson to some sort of permanent or semipermanent memory device. In most cases, that will be the hard drive of your computer. For the serious podcaster, it might be a separate digital recording unit. Or, if you're podcasting from the field (see Chapter 9, "Public Syndication"), it might be a small, portable recorder. In any case, this is the heart of the podcasting process.

"Groom" Your Podcast

When all of your content is recorded, no matter how brilliant it is, it's probably not quite ready for prime time yet. This part of the podcasting process is known as post-production and it's where you edit your podcast, enhance the audio quality of the basic recording, and preserve the final podcast in a digital format that's suitable for distribution. Some very successful podcasters devote as little time as possible to this part of the process, opting instead for what they believe is a more "authentic" sound. Other equally successful podcasters groom their podcasts carefully, often devoting three or four times as much time to post-production as they do to actual recording. As we'll see later, either approach can work, depending on the end result you want to achieve. Regardless of how much post-production is right for you, there's one indispensable aspect of post-production you can't neglect. Before you're done preparing your podcast, you've got to save it in a standard digital format that's accessible to as many potential listeners as possible. Almost always, this will mean saving your podcast as an MP3 file.

Post and Distribute Your Podcast on the Internet

Needless to say, the reason you're podcasting is to share your content with people who are interested in what you have to say. (Like the tree that falls in the forest, there's a philosophical question about whether or not it's really a podcast if no one can hear it!) The vehicle for reaching your listeners, of course, is the Internet. There are two elements involved in making your podcast available to the world. The first thing you'll need to do is to find a home on the Internet for the audio file that contains your podcast. The second requirement is to distribute it to interested listeners. The way to do this is to provide them with the means to subscribe to your podcast rather than having to manually search for it each time they want to listen. This subscription mechanism is known as an RSS feed, and you'll be learning all about it in Chapter 11, "Promoting Your Podcast." (RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Describing this technology as "really simple" proves that people in the computer industry have a sense of humor.)

It doesn't matter if you want to produce a podcast that's as polished as an NPR broadcast or something that feels raw, edgy, and spontaneous…or anything in between. Whatever "feel" you want to achieve, your podcast creation process will touch on each of these four basic steps.

Meet the Podfather

Adam Curry is podcasting's most visible evangelist. His podcast, known as The Daily Source Code, is consistently among the industry's most popular podcasts. The Daily Source Code is eclectic, energetic, and unpredictable, featuring Adam's entertaining observations on podcasting, flying, music, or whatever else happens to be on his mind on a given day. A typical show will often feature Adam testing out a new piece of podcasting equipment and will include the results, whether they're good or bad. Adam sometimes provides his listeners with "soundseeing" tours of interesting locations when he's on the road. When he's at home, at "Curry Cottage" in Surrey, England, he will occasionally interview his lovely wife, Patricia Paay, creating what he refers to as a PPP (Patricia Paay Podcast). Adam's tireless efforts to promote podcasting have earned him a unique designation in the podcasting community: The Podfather!